Harness-support for drawing-in machines.



E. F. HATHAWAY & 0. LEA. HARNESS SUPPORT FOR DRAWING-IN MACHINES.

. APPLICATION FILED APR,8, 1910. 1,150,595. Patented Aug. 17,1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, n. c,

E. F. HATHAWAY & C. LEA. HARNESS SUPPORT FOR DRAWING-IN MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, 1910. 1,150,595., Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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EDGAR IE. HATI-IAWAY AND CHARLES LEA, 015' BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNORS TO AMERICAN WARP DRAWING MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFMAINE.

naannss-serroar FOR DRAWING-IN MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

Application filed April 8, 1910. Serial No. 554,175.

To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that we, EDGAR F. HATHA- \VAYand CI-rAnLns LEA, both citizens of the United States, and residents ofBoston, county of Suffolk, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Harness-Supports for Drawing-In Machines, ofwhich the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representinglike parts.

This invention relates to devices for supporting a harness or harnessesin a dgawing-in machine, being more particularly intended to provide aharness support which will permit the ready installation of the harnessin the machine or its detachment therefrom, and which will offer theleast interference with other work required to be done in connectionwith the machine.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the followingdescription when taken in connection with the accompanying illustrationshowing one specific e1nbodiment thereof while its scope will be moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 shows a portion of the structure ofa drawing-in machine with one form of our invention applied thereto;Fig. 2 is a plan View partly broken away of the drawing-in machine shownin Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation partly in section showing a detailof the harness supporting portion of the machine; Fig. 4: is alongitudinal sectional plan on an enlarged scale showing one of theharness hangers. Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing the connection ofthe wheeled carrier to the harness hanger, and Fig. 6 is a section inplan on the line 6-6 in Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings and to the embodiment of our invention thereinshown, we have there disclosed for illustrative purposes, a portion ofthe framework 1 of a drawing-in machine of the general type disclosed inthe prior U. S. Patents 861,474, 871,680 and 871,681. In this machinethe harnesses, reed and warp are supported in a generally parallelarrangement by the arched structure 1 while drawing-in mechanismincluding the needle supported by a traveling carriage is caused totraverse the extent of the reed, harness and warps.

The specific construction of the drawingin mechanism, separating andpositioning devices for the reed harness and warp, and the supports forthe reed and warp being immaterial for the purposes of the presentinvention the same are not herein shown, but may be of any suitable orusual form and construction.

In machines of this class heretofore it has been customary to supporteach harness by immovably suspended hangers, or by hangers having such alimited range of movement, that to whatever extent they might be movedlengthwise the machine, they would remain within the vertical limits ofthe harness and thereby interfere more or less with the application ofthe other harnesses to the machine or their withdrawal therefrom andgenerally with the operators work in installing, removing or adjustingthe various parts in the machine.

The harness 2, which is here shown as a knit or cotton harness, butwhich may be a metallic or a wire harness if desired, is shown supportedby a plurality (herein two) of hangers 3, provided each with a dependinghook 4: adapted to hook under and sustain the upper harness bar 5 of theharness. Each hanger, instead of being fixedly secured to an overheadsupport without movement lengthwise the machine, is fastened to aseparate carrier 6 so sustained that its position can readily beshifted, as, for example, from the full line position shown in Fi 1 tothe dotted line position. Such a carrier may be constructed in anydesired shape and in any desired form, but herein it is composed of apair of triangular sheet metal plates riveted or otherwise securedtogether and carrying between them the rollers 7. To the downturned apexof the carrier is secured the depending hanger 3, while the rollers arearranged to travel along a suitable tack bar 8, the latter supported bythe framework 1 and the two plates having the track bar between them.

As many track bars and sets of carriers are provided as are required forthe number of harnesses which the machine is designed to carry, therebeing provided, in the illustrated form of machine, four track bars andfour sets of carriers. The track bars may be secured to the frame in anydesired manner, but herein (see Figs. 2 and 4) they are secured at eachend to a bolt 9 which projects rearwardly from the frame, sleevedspacers 10 being slipped over the bolt between the track bars to keepthem the requisite distance apart. A. nut or other suitable means isapplied to the end of each boltTto hold the bars in place, this ofiicebeing herein performed by the threaded bracket 11 which provides thepocket 12 for the warp clamp when the warp is being installed in themachine. This construction. not only provides a firm and rigid trackwayfor the harness carriers, but also strengthens and braces the frame ofthe drawing-in machine itself.

Preferably the hanger is so constructed that, while it will readilydistend or lengthen to be a predetermined length when sub jected to theweight of the harness, when it is detached therefrom and relieved ofsuch weight, it will contract or telescope and thereby draw the hook 1up out of the way above the level of the harness bar 5 as represented indotted lines in Fig. 1. This may be accomplished by variousconstructions, but in the form herein shown, the hanger 3 is a sleeve inwhich is slidably mounted a piston shaped plunger 13 secured to theupper end of the stem of the hook 4:. When the hook is freed, theplunger is raised or drawn up into the sleeve by means of the coiledspring 14; encircling the reduced body portion of the plunger 13 andinterposed between the latter and the closed lowerend of the sleeve. Thespring, while strong enough to lift the hook alone and maintain itlifted, will readily yield under the weight of the harness and draw theplunger down until its lower ends rests upon the closed lower end of thesleeve 3, thus always bringing the hook to rest in the samepredetermined position with relation to the sleeve.

The sleeve 3 is held adjustably fixed at any desired height by means ofthe thumb nut 15 which has threaded engagement with the depending screwrod 16. The rod 16 has a flattened face engaged by a screw 17 carried bythe sleeve so that the rod, while freely slidable in and out of thesleeve, cannot turn therein. The turning of the nut 15, therefore, willraise or lower the sleeve to any desired height of adjustment. Thethreaded rod 16 is secured to the lower end of the depending connectingpiece 18, the latter having such a connection to the wheeled carrier 6that, while normally depending therefrom, it can be swung around atright angles to its normal position, as represented by dotted lines inFig. 1, and caused to maintain the entire hanger in a horizontalposition up out of the way when it is not required for supporting aharness. Such connection may be had in various ways, but herein (seeFigs. 5 and 6) the connecting piece 18 is slotted at .19, a pin 20 beingprovided in the carrier and passing through the slot so that normallythe connecting piece hangs down upon the pin which contacts with theupper wall of the slot. In this position it is held rigidly "andprevented from swinging sidewise by the pin 21, which passes entirelythrough the carrier and the pin 22 on the opposite side of the piece 18,the latter pin, however, being, as shown in Fig. 5, of a short lengthonly.

When it is. desired to swing the connection and hanger into therightangled position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the connection canbe raised to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 6, which brings atransverse groove or notch 23, formed in the face of the connection 18,opposite the short pin 22 and the connectingpiece can thereupon be swunglefthandedly as viewed in Fig. 6 from the full line position there shownto the dotted line position, the notch 23 causing the connecting pieceto clear both the pin 22 and a second pin 24L located a little at oneside thereof. 4

The swinging movement as described is limited to 90 by the stop pin 25which contacts with the connecting piece. lVhen swung to a horizontalposition, the piece may be again moved to bring the pin 20 against theupper end of the slot and with draw the notch 23 from registration withthe pin 24 whereupon the connecting piece becomes locked horizontally inthe dotted line position shown.

The wheeled carriers being separable, they may be moved quickly to anydesired position and the harness attached, On the other hand, ininstalling the harnesses in the machine, either by hand or through theaid of a loading device, the hangers can be moved to one side as shownin dotted lines beyond the spread or extent of the harnesses andentirely out of the way. This .is especially desirable in employing aloading or unloading device, for the harness supporting parts of thelatter can be caused to occupy the space above the harnesses in the drawing-in machine without interfering with the parts of the machine. Theautomatic retraction of the hanger hook as soon as the harness isdetached therefrom removes it from interference with the operatorsmanipulation of the remaining harnesses and, where the machine is usedwith less than the designed number of harnesses, the idle hangers can beswung up into a horizontal position as described, thereby entirelyremoving them from interference with the operator or the remainingharnesses.

' While we have herein shown and described for the purposes ofillustration one specific form of the invention, it is to be understoodthat extensive changes may be made in the constructional details thereofand the mode of. its application without departing from the spiritthereof.

Claims:

1. In a drawing-in machine'the combination with a machine frame ofthread-placing mechanism, a fixed trackway, a plurality of independentlymovable and separable wheeled carrier on said trackway and a de pendingharness support for each carrier, said carriers with said dependingsupports being movable lengthwise the trackway to separate and leaveunobstructed the space between the same normally occupied by theharness.

2. In a drawing-in machine adapted to support a reed, harness and warp,the combination with thread-placing mechanism and a plurality ofindependently movable and separable wheeled carriers for supporting theharness.

3. In a drawing-in machine adapted to support a reed, harness and warp,the combination with thread-placing mechanism of a harness, a pluralityof independently movable and separable wheeled carriers for supportingthe same and a fixed trackway on which said carriers are adapted tomove.

4. In a drawing-in machine the combination with thread-placing mechanismof a harness and a plurality of independently movable wheeled carrierseach provided with a hanger support and a fixed trackway on which saidcarriers are movable lengthwise the machine.

5. In a drawing-in machine a harness support comprising a hanger, aharness engaging member carried thereby, and means for elevating theengaging member when detached from the harness.

6. In a drawing-in machine the combination with thread-placing mechanismof a harness support comprising a hanger, a harness engaging member, andmeans for automatically retracting said harness engaging member whenrelieved of the weight of the harness.

7. In a drawing-in machine a harness support comprising a hanger, aharness engaging hook carried thereby and a retractile spring forlifting said hook when detached from the harness.

8. In a drawing-in machine a harness support comprising a hanger, aharness engaging member adapted to be drawn down, means defining itslowermost position, and means for automatically lifting it when detachedfrom the harness.

9. In a drawing-in machine a harness support comprising a dependinghanger sleeve, a harness engaging hook, a plunger slidable within saidsleeve and secured to said hook, and a lifting spring interposed betweenthe head of the plunger and the bottom of the sleeve.

10. In a drawing-in machine a harness support comprising a Wheeledcarrier and a vertically adjustable harness hanger carried thereby. 11.In a drawing-in machine the combination with a harness of a plurality ofcarriers therefor, said carriers being relatively movable lengthwise themachine and a hanger for each carrier, said hangers being connected eachto its carrier to permit of its movement to and retention in asubstantially horizontal position.

12. In a drawing-in machine the combination with a frame, a plurality ofhorizontal track bars rigidly secured to said frame and a harnesscarrier movably mounted on each of said track bars.

13. In a drawing-in machine the combination with a harness carrier, ahanger depended therefrom, said hanger having connection to said carrierto permit its being normally maintained in substantially a verticalposition but to be moved to and maintain a position inclined thereto.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDGAR F. HATHAWAY. CHARLES LEA. -'Witnesses THOMAS E. BOOTH, ROBERT H.KAMMLER.

Copies 0! this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

